BREAKING: Trump’s VA blocks a memorial service for Alexi Pretti at the hospital where he worked in a stunning fascist abuse of power.
We know it’s difficult to imagine, but the Trump administration has sunk to a new low — this time by allegedly trying to block a memorial for a murdered nurse.
According to local Veterans Affairs officials in Minneapolis, national VA leadership stepped in to shut down a planned memorial honoring Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old VA ICU nurse shot and killed by federal Border Patrol agents. The message from above, one employee said anonymously, was blunt: “Back off.”
Let that sink in. A nurse. A colleague. A union brother. Dead. And the Trump regime’s response wasn’t compassion—it was damage control.
Emails obtained by reporters show local VA leaders were told to “pause” a noon memorial scheduled just days after Pretti was killed. Staff were stunned. “That doesn’t seem consistent with how they usually respond,” one employee said. This wasn’t about protocol. It was about politics.
Pretti was killed after intervening when agents shoved a woman to the ground. Video shows officers punching him, disarming him of a legally carried firearm he never brandished, then shooting him dead. Their punishment? A three-day administrative leave—after which they’ll quietly return to desk duty.
But honoring the victim? Apparently, that was too controversial.
Instead of acknowledging their own employee’s death, national VA leadership punted responsibility, offered vague statements, and let Trump-appointed VA Secretary Doug Collins use Pretti’s killing to push anti-immigrant talking points—blaming “state and local officials” and invoking “dangerous illegal criminals.” Pretti, meanwhile, was neither an “assassin” nor a “terrorist.” He was a nurse who cared for veterans.
Union leaders were furious. “We are disgusted,” AFGE Local 3669 said, accusing Collins of exploiting a murder to advance partisan narratives. And they’re right. When an administration can’t even allow a moment of silence without spinning propaganda, something is deeply broken.
The VA now claims a “formal memorial” is planned for next week. But the damage is done.
In Trump’s America, even mourning must wait for permission. Even grief is political. And even honoring a fallen nurse is apparently one bridge too far.
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